Elevator



(No Model.)

N.. P. OTIS}.

ELEVATOR.

No. 531,595. Patented Des. 25, 1894.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORTON P. OTIS, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL COMPANY,OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 531,595, dated December25, 1894.

Application filed August 30,1892. Serial No.444,513. on model.)

.To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, NORTON P. OTIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Yonkers, county of Westchester, and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators, fullydescribed and represented in the following specification and theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for controlling andoperating, for example, the valveor other stopping and start ingmechanism of an elevator, by means of hydraulic pressure communicatedfrom the elevator carand under the control of the conductor. Suchcontrolling and operating apparatus though designed especially for usein connection with elevators, is, with the improvements thereonconstituting the present invention, capable of application to a varietyof other mechanisms. For convenience, however, this apparatus, togetherwith the improvements of the present invention, will be describedparticularly in connection with elevator mechanism.

Theparticular form of controlling and operating apparatus as applied toelevators to which the present invention relates is that in which twohydraulic cylinders are employed, one of which is carried by and runswith the car and is provided with a piston, the rod of which isconnected to a hand lever which is in convenient position to be operatedby the conductor, and the other of which is station= ary and locatedadjacent to the elevator engine and'is provided with a piston, the rodof which is connected to and operates the valve or other mechanism whichcontrols the movements of the car, and flexible connections by whicheach end of each cylinder communicates with one end of the other; thetwo cylinders and their flexible connections being filled with water orother non-elastic fluid, thus forming a hydraulic connection between thepistonsof the two cylinders, through which the conductor, by moving thepiston of the cylinder carried by the car, in either direction,is'enabled to impart a correspondingmovement to the piston of thestationary cylinder and thus operate the valve or other stopping andstarting mechanism to control the movements of the can In suchapparatus, in order pistons to sometimes get out of their properrelation to each other, by reason of leakage or for some other cause, tomake provision for the restoration of the pistons in suchcases to theirproper relative positions; and the present invention has for a furtherobject the provision of means for this purpose also.

As a full understanding of the invention can best be given by anillustration and a detailed description of the complete apparatus asapplied to an elevator, such description will be given, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in' which Figure 1 is a diagrammaticView illustrating the general organization of the apparatus. Fig. 2 isan enlarged section of the moving cylinder or the cylinder carried bythe car, showing also the operating lever. Fig. 3 is a similar view ofthe stationary or working cylinder, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectionalview of a detail which will be hereinafter referred to. Referring tosaid figures it is to be understood that the particular elevator whichhas been selected for the purpose of illustrating the application of theinvention is one of the common forms of hydraulic elevator in which A isthe main hydraulic cylinder, at the piston-rod ofsaid cylinder, to whichis attached the traveling pulley b.

B is the'c'ar, and c the lifting cable, which passes over the stationarypulley d at the top of the shaft and beneath the traveling pulley b.

- C is the usual circulating pipe through which the water passes fromthe u pperto the lower end of the cylinder A, and D islthe casing of themain valve whichis of theordinary form and controls the circulation ofthe water and its final discharge from the lower end of the cylinder.The main valve is operated by a piston 10 which works in an auxiliarycylinder 12, and the rod 13 of which is connected to a lever 14 which isalso connected to the rod 15 of the main valve.

The auxiliary cylinder 12 is supplied with water under suitable pressurefor operating the piston 10, through a pipe 16 which communicates withthe circulating pipe 0 or any other source, and the water afterperforming its work in the cylinder is exhausted through a pipe 17. Theadmission and discharge of the water to and from the cylinder 12 iscontrolled by an auxiliary valve 18 which is controlled and operated bythe conductor in the car.

The organization for operating the main valve by means of an auxiliarypiston which has just been described, forms no part of the presentinvention and although desirable inasinuch as it relieves the conductorof the labor of operating the main valve directly is not essential asthe main valve may be controlled and operated directly.

Located upon the car, preferably beneath its floor, and moving with thecar, is a small cylinder 20 having a piston 19 the rod 9 of which isconnected to a hand lever 21 which is arranged in convenient position tobe operated by the conductor. The cylinder 20 communicates upon oppositesides of the piston 19 with flexible hose or pipes 22 which in turncommunicate with the corresponding ends of a cylinder 25 having a piston241, the rod 23 of which is connected to the valve 18. The cylinders20,25 and the connections between the two cylinders being filled withwater or other non-elastic fluid, it will be readily seen that anymovement imparted to the piston 19 in either direction will, through thecolumn of liquid, impart a corresponding movement to the piston 241 thelatter in turn, through its rod 23, performing the work of moving thevalve 18 and controlling the movement of the auxiliary piston 10 andthrough that piston the movement of the main valve, the main piston inthe cylinderA and the car.

The operation of the apparatus as thus far described is as follows: Whenthe car is at rest the main valve, 1 he auxiliary piston and valve, andthe pistons 19 and 2 1 and the lever 21 will be on center. To start thecar, up for example, the lever 21 will be rocked to the right. This willmove the piston 19 to the left and by reason of the body of non-elasticliquid which fills the cylinders 20, 25 and the connections between thecylinders, impart a corresponding upward movement to the piston 24 andshift the valve 18 so as to start the piston 10 upward and this willmove the main valve upward, thus allowing the water to escape from thelower end of the cylinder A and causing the car to ascend. To stop thecar, the lever 21 will be rocked back to center and over to the left.This will have the same effect as before but will move the piston 24downward so as to reverse the valve 18 and cause the piston 10 to movedownward and carry the main valve back to its central position and stopthe car. As soon as the car stops the lever21 will be moved back tocenter. This will move the pistons 19, 2t and the valve 18 back tocenter and arrest the piston 10. To start the car downward the operationwill be the same except that the lever 21 will be moved to the left. Bymoving the valve 18 to center at any time, the piston 10 will bearrested in whatever position it then occupies and thus the speed of thecar can be controlled.

Although it is preferable, as before stated, to operate the main valveindirectly through an auxiliary piston, this is not essential. The rod23 of the piston 2t may be connected directly to the lever lat or to themain valve and it is also to be understood that the stationary workingpiston 24, instead of operating a valve, may operate any other form ofstopping and starting mechanism, as for example, a belt shifter.

It will be observed that the connections 22 are so arranged that theends of the cylinder 20, 25 through which the piston-rods pass, are

connected by one of the pipes, while the opposite ends are connected bythe other pipe. This, though not essential, is desirable because thepresence of the rods makes the d splacement due to the movement of thepistons in one direction less than in the other. By extending the rods9, 23 through the pistons and the opposite ends of the cylinders thismay, however be avoided.

The connections 22 may be flexible for their whole length, but inpractice it is preferable to make these connections in part of rigidpipes which extend from the cylinder 25 upward to a pointabout one-halfthe height of the shaft; the remainder of the connect ons from thatpoint to the car being of flexible tubes or hose.

As before stated it will in practice he found necessary and it is theobject of this invention to provide means by which the supply of theliquid in the cylinders 20, 25 and their connections will be constantlymaintained to compensate for leakage through the stuffing boxes,evaporation, &c. To effect this the stationary working cylinder 25, orthe pipes 22, are arranged to communicate by small pipes 26 with thecirculating pipe 0 or with some other source of liquid supply, each ofthe pipes 26 being provided with a small check valve 8 which opens toallow the liquid to pass into the cylinders and connections, to supplyany deficiency, but closes to prevent the liquid from passing in theopposite direction; the supply of liquid in the cylinders and theirconnections being thus maintained constant, any loss, from leakage,evaporation, the, being immediately compensated for.

In operating the apparatus also, as before stated, it will sometimeshappen, owing to leakage or other cause, that the pistons 19, 24 willget out of their proper relative positions, and it is thereforeimportant that means should be provided by which in such case they IIOcan be restored to their proper relative positions by the conductor. Forthis purpose the piston rod 9 of the cylinder is made hollow and isprovided with an opening 2 by which communication can be establishedbetween the opposite sides of its piston 19. The opening 2 is controlledby a valve 3 the rod 4 of which extends through the hollow rod 9 and isconnected to a bell-crank 5 which is pivoted upon'the lever 21 and isarranged to be operated by a supplemental lever 6 also pivoted upon thelever 21. The lever 6 is acted onby a spring 7 which normally holds thevalve 3 in position to close the opening 2 and cut off communicationbetween the opposite sides of the piston 19. If at any time,

however, the pistons 19, 24 get out of proper relative adjustment, theconductor will shift the lever 21 until the piston 24 is moved tocenter, and by then moving the valve 3 so as to open communicationbetween the opposite sides of the piston 19, the latter piston can bemoved to center. The valve '3 will be closed and the apparatus willoperate properly.

The arrangement just described for adj ustin g the position of thepiston 19 is well adapted for effecting the desired result, but thepassage for affording communication between the opposite ends of thecylinder may be arranged in any other position and may be controlled byany other suitable form of apparatus. I

As before stated the controlling and operating apparatus,which have, forconvenience, and because it is particularly applicable thereto beenillustrated and described in connection with elevators for operating thestopping and starting mechanism thereof, is capable of use equally wellin connection with many other forms of machines, and for operatingmechanisms other than such stopping and starting mechanism; and in suchother uses the improvements of the present invention are equallyapplicable.

What I claim is- 1. The combination with a stationary working cylinderand piston and mechanism operated by the latter, of a moving cylinderand piston controlled by an attendant for operating said working piston,flexible connections between each end'of each cylinder and one end ofthe other, a volume of liquid fill ing the two cylinders and theconnections, a passage through said moving piston and its piston rodaffording communication between the opposite ends of said movingcylinder, a valve apparatus controlling said passage, and a lever foroperating said valve apparatus, substantially as described.

2. The combination with cylinder 25 and its piston 24, cylinder 20 andits hollow piston 19, flexible connections between each end of eachcylinder and one end of the other, and a volume of liquid filling thetwo cylinders and the connections, of hollow piston rod 9 connected withpiston 19 and provided with opening 2 affording communication betweenthe opposite ends of cylinder 20, valve 3 controlling said opening, andlever 4 and connections for operating said valve, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination with a cylinder having a piston connected to operatethe stopping and starting mechanism of an elevator, of cylinder 20carried by the car and provided with hollow piston 19 controlled by theconductor on the car, flexible connections be tween each end of eachcylinder and one/end of the other, and a volume of liquid filling thetwo cylinders and the connections, of hollow piston rod 9 connected withpiston 19 and provided with opening 2 affording communication betweenthe opposite ends of cylinder 20, valve 3 controlling said opening, andlover 4 and connections within the car controlled by the conductor, foroperating said valve, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

NORTON P. OTIS. Witnesses:

A. E. HALL, R. 0. SMITH.

